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77-671: According to the Treaty of Hartford (1786) , it was agreed that the Genesee tract was owned by the Senecas, was a part of and under the jurisdiction of New York State, and that Massachusetts had the preemptive right to purchase the land from the Senecas. In other words, the Senecas could sell the land only to the owner of those preemptive rights (unless those rights were relinquished), and that those rights were owned by Massachusetts . In 1788, Phelps and Gorham purchased these preemptive rights to

154-618: A 12-mile-wide (19 km) strip along the east side of the lands acquired from Massachusetts, from the Pennsylvania border to Lake Ontario. This later became known as the Morris Reserve. At the north end of the Morris Reserve, Morris sold a 87,000-acre (350 km) triangular-shaped tract to Herman Leroy, William Bayard, and John McEvers. This was nicknamed the Triangle Tract. A 100,000-acre (400 km) tract due west of

231-583: A decentralized political and diplomatic Iroquois Confederacy . Allied as one of the most powerful Indian confederacies during colonial times, the Iroquois prevented most European colonization west of the middle of the Mohawk Valley and in the Finger Lakes region for nearly two centuries after first contact. During the colonial era , some smaller tribes moved into the Finger Lakes region, seeking

308-475: A different analysis of the phonemic system of Proto-Siouan, which appears below: In Siouanist literature (e.g., Rankin et al. 2015), Americanist phonetic transcriptions are the norm, so IPA * ʃ is Americanist *š, IPA *j is Americanist *y, and so on. The major change to the previously-proposed system was accomplished by systematically accounting for the distribution of multiple stop series in modern Siouan languages by tracing them back to multiple stop series in

385-523: A grist mill to grind their maize which would relieve the women of the grinding work. The Indians asked how much land was needed for a grist mill, and Phelps suggested a huge section of land west of the Genesee River, much larger than actually required, extending west from the river 12 miles (19 km), running south from Lake Ontario approximately 24 miles (39 km), and totaling about 288 square miles (750 km). The section stretches from near

462-469: A man of high reputation, to perform the survey. During his original survey for Phelps and Gorham, Maxwell was assisted by Augustus Porter and other surveyors. Maxwell and his assistants started a preliminary survey on June 13, 1788, from the 82-mile stone on the Pennsylvania Line. The trial survey reached Seneca Lake. The actual survey was started on July 25, 1788, and when the surveyors reached

539-515: A perpetual annuity of $ 500 per year. This portion consisted of about 2,250,000 acres (9,100 km) east of the Genesee River plus the 12 miles (19 km) by 24 miles (39 km) Mill Yard Tract along the river's northwestern bank. Within a year, monetary values rose and, in combination with poor sales, the syndicate was unable to make the second of three payments for the land west of the Genesee River, forcing them to default on exercising

616-599: A reflex of [w], [b], [mb], or [p]. The actual phonetic value of these obstruents is an issue of some debate, with some arguing that they arise through geminated *w+*w or *r+*r sequences or a laryngeal plus *w or *r. Previous work on Proto-Siouan only posited single vowel length. However, phonemic vowel length exists in several Siouan languages such as Hidatsa , Ho-Chunk , and Tutelo . Rankin et al. (2015) analyze numerous instances of long vowels as present due to common inheritance rather than common innovation. The five oral vowels and three nasal vowels posited by earlier scholars

693-754: A serious error when he ignored the variance between magnetic north and true north . A survey team that Benjamin Ellicott headed found in November–December 1792 that the preemption line ran through Seneca Lake and north along a line to Lake Ontario near the center of Sodus Bay, about four miles west of the line surveyed by Maxwell. The line now divides the city of Geneva and the Town of Waterloo in Border City. The old preemption line reached Lake Ontario, three miles west of Sodus Bay. The new line terminated near

770-454: A vast quantity of vegetables of every kind". These actions denied both the Iroquois and the British the food needed to sustain their war effort. The formerly self-sufficient Iroquois fled as refugees, gathering at Fort Niagara to seek food from the British. Weakened by their ordeal and famine, thousands of Iroquois died of starvation and disease. Their warriors no longer were a major factor in

847-518: Is expanded to include a distinction between short and long vowels. The proposed Proto-Siouan vowel system appears below: The Yuchi isolate may be the closest relative of Sioux–Catawban, based on both sound changes and morphological comparison. In the 19th century, Robert Latham suggested that the Siouan languages are related to the Caddoan and Iroquoian languages . In 1931, Louis Allen presented

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924-533: Is shown below: With respect to vowels, five oral vowels are reconstructed: /*i, *e, *a, *o, *u/ and three nasal vowels /*ĩ, *ã, *ũ/ . Wolff also reconstructed some consonantal clusters /*tk, *kʃ, *ʃk, *sp/ . Collaborative work involving a number of Siouanists started at the 1984 Comparative Siouan Workshop at the University of Colorado with the goal of creating a comparative Siouan dictionary that would include Proto-Siouan reconstructions. This work yielded

1001-568: The Finger Lakes area of New York . The campaign involved mobilizing 6,200 Colonial Army troops, which represented about 25% of the entire rebel army at the time. Their orders were to destroy all Indian villages and crops belonging to the six nations, to engage the Indian and Tory marauders under Brandt and Butler whenever possible, and to drive them so far west that future raids would be impossible. Sullivan led his army on an expedition with

1078-610: The Iroquois Confederacy before any encounter with Europeans. Archaeological evidence suggests that Iroquoian peoples lived in the Finger Lakes region from at least 1000 CE; the nations known to the colonists are believed to have coalesced after that time, and formed their confederacy for internal peace among them. The Mohawk were the easternmost Iroquois tribe, occupying much of the Mohawk Valley west of Albany . The Onondaga and Oneida tribes lived near

1155-698: The Northwest Ordinance passed by the Congress of the Confederation in July 1787. Siouan languages Siouan ( / ˈ s uː ən / SOO -ən ) or Siouan–Catawban is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains , Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east. Authors who call

1232-584: The Pacific Ocean . The area in dispute included all of western New York State west of, approximately, Seneca Lake , extending all the way to the Niagara River and Lake Erie , and north to south from the shore of Lake Ontario to the Pennsylvania border. New York and Massachusetts agreed to divide the rights in question with a treaty signed December 16. The states agreed that all of

1309-672: The Seneca , very difficult to negotiate with. The Dutch gave presents to the influential women of the tribes, and offered generous payments to several other chiefs to influence their cooperation. They offered the Iroquois about 200,000 acres in return as reservations for the tribes. The result was the Treaty of Big Tree . In 1802, the Holland Land Company opened its sales office in Batavia , managed by surveyor and agent Joseph Ellicott . The office remained open until 1846 when

1386-608: The Treaty of Canandaigua in 1794. The scrip's low value substantially reduced Massachusetts' proceeds from the sale. After the Revolutionary War ended, the Iroquois chiefs had been assured by the US government in the 1784 Fort Stanwix treaty that their lands would remain theirs unless the Indians made new cessions—as a result of regular councils duly convened and conducted according to tribal custom. The eastern boundary

1463-540: The United States to take title to the land, because New York state law made it illegal for them to own the property directly. Robert Morris prevailed upon the New York Legislature to repeal that ordinance, which it did shortly thereafter, as it was eager to have the lands developed into settlements. The investors of the Holland Land Company could in a worst-case scenario resell their property, i.e.

1540-623: The United States Constitution , and was the major financier of the American Revolution . At the time, he was the richest man in America. Morris paid about 11 or 12 cents an acre for the land, or about $ 9,878 (£24,695) (about $ 253 thousand in 2023). The land was conveyed to Morris in five deeds on May 11, 1791. On August 10, 1790, the syndicate sold the remaining lands of the Genesee tract directly to Morris, with

1617-706: The Allegheny, Genesee, Upper Susquehanna, and Chemung river basins. The Iroquois nations also raided American settlements in Western New York and along the Susquehanna River . The colonists were angry and hungry for retaliation. In response, on July 31, 1779, George Washington , who was then commanding the Continental Army , ordered Gen. James Clinton and Gen. John Sullivan to march from Pennsylvania near present-day Wilkes-Barre to

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1694-837: The Genesee Tract, as it was also known, comprised all of the present counties of Ontario , Steuben and Yates , as well as portions of Allegany , Livingston , Monroe , Schuyler and Wayne counties. After Sir William Pulteney's death in 1805, it was known as the Pulteney Estate. Morris sold additional land in December 1792 and in February and July 1793 to the Holland Land Company , an unincorporated syndicate formed by Willem Willink and thirteen other Dutch bankers. The bankers hired American trustees in

1771-482: The Genesee tract from Massachusetts for about $ 1,000,000 ( £ 300,000), to be paid in three annual installments. Some sources refer to this purchase of preemptive rights as the "Phelps and Gorham purchase". On July 8, 1788, at the First Treaty of Buffalo Creek , Phelps and Gorham petitioned the Senecas to sell them the entire parcel, but the Senecas agreed to sell only the easternmost third of the tract, for $ 5000 and

1848-492: The Iroquois was required to first obtain Massachusetts' approval. After the adoption of the United States Constitution in 1787, the federal government ratified the states' compact. In April 1788, Phelps and Gorham bought the preemptive rights from Massachusetts, but this did not get them the right to develop or re-sell the land. They only obtained exclusive right to negotiate with the Iroquois and obtain clear title to

1925-411: The Iroquois, who were not consulted. To stimulate settlement, the federal government planned to release much of these millions of acres of land for sale. Before that could happen, New York and Massachusetts had to settle their competing claims for a region west of New York. (Massachusetts' colonial claim had extended west without end.) The two states signed the Treaty of Hartford in December 1786. With

2002-517: The Native American nations. Kirkland encouraged the Oneida and other Iroquois to sell their land to the whites in part because he was convinced that they "would never become farmers unless forced to by the loss of land for hunting." Kirkland also benefitted from the land sales, receiving 6,000-acre (24 km) around present day Utica from New York State and from the Oneida people. Kirkland

2079-591: The Niagara Genesee Land Company, and divided another 23 shares among 21 persons. On July 8, 1788, Phelps met with the original Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy , including the Mohawk , Oneida , Onondaga , Cayuga , and Seneca nations, at Buffalo Creek . His goal was to execute a deed or treaty and obtain title to a portion of their land. The Oneida were split by internal divisions over whether they should give up their title. Phelps

2156-696: The Ohio River Valley, but across the Appalachian Plateau and into the Piedmont regions of present-day Virginia and the Carolinas. Some of these groups migrated or were displaced great distances following European contact, ending up as far afield as present-day Ontario and southern Mississippi. Collectively, Siouan languages of Appalachia and the Piedmont are sometimes grouped under the term Tutelo , Tutelo-Saponi, or Yesah (Yesa:sahį) as

2233-488: The Preemption Line. The Fort Stanwix Treaty and earlier treaties established the approximate western boundary, but a survey was required to establish the exact line. Phelps believed that the line ran through Seneca Lake and included the former Cayuga settlement of Kandesaga, present-day Geneva, New York . He planned to make Geneva the headquarters and location of the land sales office. He hired Col. Hugh Maxwell,

2310-478: The Pulteney Associates , led by Sir William Pulteney. He sold at more than double the price he had paid. Sir William Pulteney bought 9/12ths interest, William Hornby 2/12ths, and Patrick Colquhoun 1/12th interest. At the time non-citizens could not legally hold title to land. The buyers sent Charles Williamson from Scotland, and he was naturalized on January 9, 1792, in order to permit him to hold

2387-523: The Right, Title & Demand, which the said Commonwealth has in & to the said 'Western Territory' ceded to it by the Treaty of Hartford." But first Phelps and Gorham had to go up against competing companies and persuade the Iroquois to give up their title to the land. The New York Genesee Land Company, led by John Livingston, was one of the competitors to acquire title to these lands. He gathered several of

Phelps and Gorham Purchase - Misplaced Pages Continue

2464-685: The Triangle Tract was sold to the State of Connecticut . Treaty of Hartford (1786) The Treaty of Hartford is an agreement concluded between New York and Massachusetts on December 16, 1786 in Hartford, Connecticut , over the ownership of the land which now comprises Western New York . New York and Massachusetts both claimed the same land for different reasons: New York based its claim on various treaties that it concluded with Indian tribes, whereas Massachusetts invoked its colonial charter, which described its boundaries as extending westward to

2541-676: The Tuscarora became allies of the rebel Americans. Within each tribe, there were often members on either side of the war, as the tribes were highly decentralized. Led by Joseph Brant , a war leader of the Mohawk, numerous Iroquois warriors joined in British attacks against the rebels, particularly in the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys. They attacked and killed settlers, took some women and children as captives, drove off their livestock, and burned their houses and barns. The Iroquois resisted colonists encroaching into their territory, which roughly comprised

2618-402: The area of Kandesaga, the line was fixed west of Seneca Lake and Kandesaga, which survived as a key town in the region. Oliver Phelps was extremely upset when he learned that the survey did not include Seneca Lake or the Indian village. He wrote a letter to Col. William Walker, the local agent responsible for the survey, and requested that they survey be redone in that area. For unknown reasons, it

2695-401: The basis of linguistic evidence, that Catawban was divergent enough from the other Siouan languages, including neighboring Siouan languages of the Piedmont and Appalachia, to be considered a distinct branch. Voegelin proposes that Biloxi, Ofo and Tutelo consistute one group which he terms Ohio Valley Siouan . This group includes various historical languages spoken by Siouan peoples not only in

2772-538: The center of the head of the bay. The new preemption line traveled in a northeasterly direction from the west end of the southern boundary. In his new survey, Hoops established that the western boundary of the Mill Yard tract included a gore-shaped tract of land about 85,896 acres (347.61 km; 134.213 sq mi) west of the Genesee River, that should have been retained by the Iroquois. To make it easier, Morris' syndicate returned an equivalent amount of land on

2849-403: The chiefs together at Geneva. To circumvent New York state law that only permitted the state to buy land from the natives, he negotiated a lease for a term of 999 years for all the Iroquois lands of Western New York. This included a down payment of $ 20,000 and an annual payment of $ 200 to their heirs. But when New York state learned of his agreement, it advised all parties including the natives that

2926-544: The company was finally dissolved. The Company granted some plots of land to persons with the condition that they establish improvements, such as inns and taverns, to encourage growth. The building that housed the Holland Land Office still exists; it is operated as a museum dedicated to the Holland Purchase and is designated a National Historic Landmark . Morris kept 500,000 acres (2,000 km) in

3003-454: The consolidated securities Phelps and Gorham had used to buy the land, effectively quadrupling the syndicate's debt and substantially inflating the amount required to purchase title from the Iroquois for the remaining 1,000,000-acre (4,000 km). The syndicate sold about 50 townships but the purchasers were mainly stockholders who had accepted land in exchange for interest on the loan principal. Fewer emigrants bought land than expected, reducing

3080-480: The defeated British during the Revolutionary War, and since the British had given up the lands in the 1783 peace treaty , the tribes could expect to retain only the lands granted by the United States. Phelps and Gorham wanted to buy 2,600,000-acre (11,000 km), but the Iroquois refused to sell the rights to 185,000 acre (749 km) west of the Genesee River . Phelps suggested that the Iroquois could use

3157-714: The eastern edge of this region of land purchases, closer to their namesake lakes, Lake Oneida and Onondaga Lake . (Onondaga territory had extended up to Lake Ontario). The Cayuga and Seneca nations lived to the west in the Finger Lakes region, with the Seneca the westernmost tribe. Major Iroquois towns in the Finger Lakes region included the Seneca town of Gen-nis-he-yo in present-day Geneseo , Kanadaseaga near present-day Geneva , Goiogouen (Cayuga Castle, east of Cayuga Lake ), Chonodote , Cayuga town in present-day Aurora , and Catherine's Town near present-day Watkins Glen . The Iroquois nations had earlier formed

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3234-554: The eastern third of the territory ceded to Massachusetts by the Treaty of Hartford, from the Genesee River in the west to the Preemption Line in the east, which was the boundary that had been set between the lands awarded to Massachusetts and those awarded to New York State by the Treaty of Hartford. Boundaries established by Phelps' agreement were reaffirmed between the United States and the Six Nations by Article 3 of

3311-789: The entire family Siouan distinguish the two branches as Western Siouan and Eastern Siouan or as "Siouan-proper" and "Catawban". Others restrict the name "Siouan" to the western branch and use the name Siouan–Catawban for the entire family. Generally, however, the name "Siouan" is used without distinction. Siouan languages can be grouped into Western Siouan languages and Catawban . The Western Siouan languages are typically subdivided into Missouri River languages (such as Crow and Hidatsa ), Mandan , Mississippi River languages (such as Dakota , Chiwere - Winnebago , and Dhegihan languages ), and Ohio Valley Siouan languages ( Ofo , Biloxi , and Tutelo ). The Catawban branch consists of Catawban and Woccon . Charles F. Voegelin established, on

3388-485: The entire six million acres (24,000 km ) to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham for $ 1,000,000, payable in three equal annual installments, and payable in specie or in certain Massachusetts securities then trading at about 20 cents on the dollar, the money used to repay some of the state's debt from the Revolutionary War . Similar western boundary issues involving these and other states were resolved by

3465-417: The exception of about 47,000 acres retained by Phelps and Gorham. The deed was conveyed on November 18, 1790, and specified that the tract should contain 1 million acres, and any amount over that would require further payment. On September 21, 1791, Geneva was described as "a small, unhealthy village with about 15 houses, all of log construction except three. There are about 20 families." When Morris bought

3542-929: The first land sales offices in the U.S. in Suffield, Connecticut and another in Canandaigua . During the next two years, they sold 500,000-acre (2,000 km) at a higher price to a number of buyers. People arrived from New England, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and from across the Atlantic, from England and Scotland. Settlers also included veterans who had fought under General Sullivan. There was considerable land hunger among people in New England, who had been crowded for some time. Many purchasers were buying land for speculative purposes and quickly resold it. For example, Oliver Phelps sold township 3, range 2, to Prince Bryant of Pennsylvania on September 5, 1789. Prince Bryant sold

3619-400: The first list of systematic correspondences between a set of 25 lexical items in Siouan and Iroquoian. In the 1960s and 1970s, Wallace Chafe further explored the link between Siouan and Caddoan languages. In the 1990s, Marianne Mithun compared the morphology and syntax of all the three families. At present, this Macro-Siouan hypothesis is not considered proven, and the similarities between

3696-417: The goal of subduing the Iroquois in the region. Although they did not kill many Natives, his forces destroyed much of the Iroquois homelands, including 40 villages such as the major Cayuga villages of Cayuga Castle and Chonodote (Peachtown) and their surrounding fields. In the area from Albany to Niagara, they emptied their winter stores, which included at least 160,000 bushels of stored corn along "with

3773-487: The income expected by the syndicate. Two of the three bonds financing the purchase were canceled, but even when the debt was reduced to $ 109,333 (£31,000) (about $ 2.8 million in 2023), the syndicate was unable to make the next payment. In August 1790, the reverses forced Phelps to sell his Suffield home and his interest in the Hartford National Bank and Trust Co. of Connecticut In early 1791, the syndicate

3850-402: The land a month later to Elijah Babcock, who in turn sold various parcels to Roger Clark, Samuel Tooker, David Holmes, and William Babcock. The syndicate was able to sell about half of its holdings. However, within the year, currency values rose in anticipation of Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton 's plan to nationalize the debts of the states forming the new nation. This raised the value of

3927-615: The land in question, about 6 million acres (24,000 km ), would be recognized as part of New York State. Massachusetts, in return, obtained the right of preemption, the title to all of the land, giving it the exclusive right to extinguish by purchase the possessory rights of the Indian tribes (except for a narrow strip along the Niagara River, the title to which was recognized to belong to New York). The compact also provided that Massachusetts could sell or assign its preemptive rights. On April 1, 1788, Massachusetts sold its rights to

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4004-428: The land in trust for the owners. He relocated to the United States in February 1792 and settled on the tract. Morris conveyed the deed to Williamson on April 11, 1792, and was paid $ 333,333 (£75,000). The U.S. Congress had passed The Coinage Act which established the U.S. Mint and the dollar as its official currency only a week before. Morris made a profit of over $ 160,000 on the transaction. The Pulteney Purchase, or

4081-521: The land. For this preemptive right, they paid Massachusetts $ 1,000,000 (£300,000) (about $ 25.3 million in 2023)). This was to be paid in three annual installments. By an act of the Massachusetts Legislature approved April 1, 1788, it was provided that "this Commonwealth doth hereby agree, to grant, sell & convey to Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, for a purchase price of $ 1,000,000, payable in three equal annual installments all

4158-562: The language historically spoken by the Monacan , Manahoac , Haliwa-Saponi , and Occaneechi peoples. Proto-Siouan is the reconstructed ancestor of all modern Siouan languages. There is a certain amount of comparative work in Siouan–Catawban languages. Wolff (1950–51) is among the first and more complete works on the subject. Wolff reconstructed the system of proto-Siouan, and this was modified by Matthews (1958). The latter's system

4235-499: The lease had no standing in either Massachusetts or New York. Another competitor was the Niagara Genesee Land Company formed by Colonel John Butler , Samuel Street , and other Tory friends of the Iroquois. They tried to persuade the Iroquois to grant them a lease. Some proposed that an independent state be created in western New York. Phelps eliminated many of his competitors by persuading them to join his syndicate. Phelps and Gorham retained 82 shares for themselves, sold 15 shares to

4312-455: The present-day town of Avon north to the community of Charlotte at Lake Ontario and encompasses Rochester . The Iroquois agreed. Within this area on the west bank, Phelps and Gorham gave 100 acres (0.40 km; 0.16 sq mi) at the high falls of the Genesee River to Ebenezer "Indian" Allen , on the condition that he build the grist mill and sawmill. The grist mill was distant from potential customers—only about 25 families lived on

4389-442: The property, issues with the first survey were well known. The purchase deed stated, "A manifest error has been committed in the laying out and dividing the same, so that a new survey must be laid in order to correct the said error." Some accounts from early in the 20th century attribute errors discovered during the second survey to the primitive instruments used by the surveyors, but allegations of fraud were also made. A description of

4466-643: The protection of the Iroquois. In about 1720, the Tuscarora tribe arrived, having migrated from the Carolinas after defeat by European colonists and Indian allies. They were also Iroquoian-speaking and were accepted as "cousins", forming the Sixth Nation of the Confederacy. In 1753 remnants of several Virginia Siouan tribes, collectively called the Tutelo - Saponi , moved to the town of Coreorgonel at

4543-436: The proto-language. Previous analysis posited only a single stop series. Many of the consonant clusters proposed by Wolff (1950–1951) can be accounted for due to syncopation of short vowels before stressed syllables. For example, Matthews (1958: 129) gives *wróke as the proto-form for 'male.' With added data from a larger set of Siouan languages since the middle of the twentieth century, Rankin et al. (2015) give *waroː(-ka) as

4620-517: The reconstructed form for 'male.' Unlike Wolff and Matthew's proposals, there are no posited nasal consonants in Proto-Siouan. Nasal consonants only arise in daughter languages when followed by a nasal vowel. In addition, there is a set of sounds that represent obstruentized versions of their corresponding sonorants. These sounds have different reflexes in daughter languages, with *w appearing as [w] or [m] in most daughter languages, while *W has

4697-695: The region French Canada as including Western New York. The French sent traders and missionaries there, but ceded any claim in 1759 during the French and Indian War , the North American front of the Seven Years' War , in which they were defeated by Great Britain. During the American Revolutionary War , four of the six Iroquois nations allied with the British, hoping to push American colonists out of their territory. The Oneida and

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4774-483: The region that impressed potential settlers. Following the American Revolution , there were a confusing collection of contradictory royal charters from James I , Charles I , and Charles II , mixed with a succession of treaties with the Dutch and with the Indians, which made the legal situation for land sales intractable. Following the war, Great Britain ceded all its claims to the territory, including lands controlled by

4851-610: The remainder of the purchase agreement. They were also forced to sell at a discount much of the land they had already bought title to but had not yet re-sold; it was purchased by Robert Morris of Philadelphia , financier, U.S. Founding Father , and U.S. Senator . Much of the land south of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario , and west of the Hudson River , had been occupied by the Iroquoian -speaking Five Civilized Tribes of

4928-481: The right to purchase aboriginal land. The investors expected a significant profit if they could obtain clear title from the Iroquois and sell unencumbered parcels of land. They organized a council at Big Tree in the summer of 1797. The council was attended by the Iroquois sachems , Robert Morris, James Wadsworth (who represented the federal government), and Joseph Ellicott , who represented the Holland Land Company. The Europeans and Americans found Red Jacket , chief of

5005-433: The south end of Cayuga Lake (near present-day Ithaca). They lived there until 1779, when their village was destroyed during the Revolutionary War by allied rebel forces. The French colonized northern areas, moving in along the St. Lawrence River from early trading posts among Algonquian -speaking tribes on the Atlantic Coast; they founded Quebec in 1608. When Samuel de Champlain explored the St. Lawrence River, he claimed

5082-410: The state. When a new survey was commissioned, Maxwell's survey became known as "The First Survey." Adam Hoops was hired to lead a team of new surveyors, who discovered that Maxwell erred on both the eastern preemption line and the western boundary. Maxwell had located the westernmost boundary of the Millyard Tract in the belief that the Genesee River ran due north. Hoops' team found that Maxwell had made

5159-402: The survey in 1892 cast suspicion on an assistant surveyor named Jenkins, who was supposed to have altered the survey line to favor his employer, Peter Ryckman. He wanted to control the site of present-day Geneva . Ryckman had previously sought to buy the land directly from the Iroquois, but it was illegal under New York state law for him to buy land from the natives, and his contract was voided by

5236-467: The treaty, Massachusetts ceded its claim to the United States government, and sovereignty and jurisdiction of the region to New York State. The treaty established Massachusett's pre-emptive rights right to negotiate with the Iroquois nations for their aboriginal title to the land ahead of New York, and also gave the two states the exclusive rights ahead of individuals to buy the land. Anyone else who wanted to purchase title to or ownership of land from

5313-412: The war. The Continental Army took heart from their punishment of the Iroquois on the frontier. During their advance west, Sullivan's army took a route to New York through northeast Pennsylvania. They had to cut a new road through lightly inhabited areas of the Pocono Mountains (this trail is known today as "Sullivan's Trail"). When the troops returned to Pennsylvania, they told very favorable stories of

5390-505: The west bank at the time—and there were no roads going to it from the few nearby farms on the west bank of the river. It never prospered. Allen's tract became the nucleus of modern Rochester, New York . The section of land on the west bank of the Genesee River became known as the Mill Yard Tract. Phelps and his company paid the Indians $ 5,000 cash and promised an annual annuity of $ 500 to their heirs forever. The agreement gave them title to 2,250,000 acres (9,100 km), included approximately

5467-409: The west, a 87,000 acres (350 km; 136 sq mi) parcel known as the Triangle Tract, to the Iroquois. Morris then purchased the rights to the Triangle Tract from the Iroquois; this land became part of the Morris Reserve. The area of land purchased by Morris was fixed at 1,267,569 acres (5,129.67 km; 1,980.577 sq mi). Hoop's corrected survey became known as the "Second Survey" and

5544-554: Was accepted by Simeon DeWitt, New York's surveyor-general, in a resolution passed by the state on March 24, 1795. After buying the land from the state of Massachusetts in early 1790, Morris almost immediately resold 12,000,000 acres (49,000 km; 19,000 sq mi) (Error: Total land in New York State west of the Pre-emption line is only about 6 million acres.) through his London agent William Temple Franklin to

5621-408: Was aided by Samuel Kirkland , a Presbyterian minister and missionary among the Oneida. Kirkland had been appointed by the state of Massachusetts to oversee the transaction. Kirkland had previously taken part in six prior illegal land treaties made by individual states with the Indians, in violation of federal authority over Indian affairs. Only the US government had the authority to make treaties with

5698-563: Was defined by a Preemption Line , which was anchored on the south at the 82nd milestone on the New York-Pennsylvania boundary line and on the north by Lake Ontario . The treaties gave Massachusetts the right to buy from the Native Americans and resell all territory west of the Preemption Line, while New York State retained the right to govern that territory. New York State would add to its territory all land east of

5775-529: Was determined to build the Hamilton-Oneida Academy and needed financial support from the wealthy land speculators. In November 1790, some Iroquois, including Cornplanter , accused Phelps, Kirkland, and the Mohawk chief Joseph Brant of altering deeds in order to favor Phelps. The Indians believed they were owners of the land, but Phelps persuaded the Chiefs that, since they had been allies to

5852-536: Was not completed. On the west, the survey ran north from the Pennsylvania border to the confluence of Canaseraga Creek and the Genesee River. The survey line followed the river to a point 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Canawagus Village , and then due west 12 miles (19 km) distant from the westernmost bend, and then due north to the shore of Lake Ontario. Maxwell divided the land into ranges 6 miles (9.7 km) wide from north to south. Maxwell's work later became known as "The First Survey." Phelps opened one of

5929-467: Was unable to make the second payment on the preemptive right to the lands west of the Genesee River, comprising some 3,750,000 acres (15,200 km), and these preemptive rights reverted to Massachusetts on March 10, 1791. On March 12, Massachusetts agreed to sell these rights to Robert Morris for $ 333,333.33 (about $ 8.5 million in 2023). Morris was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence and

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